Death toll from Somalia hotel attack rises to 39

The death toll from Friday’s car bomb and gun attacks in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, has risen to 39, with at least forty people wounded, police have said. Two car bombs exploded near the Sahafi Hotel and the Criminal Investigations Department on Friday afternoon, before a third bomb, placed in a three-wheeled “tuk-tuk”, exploded on a busy street near the hotel.

According to the police, a group of gunmen then tried to access the hotel but were killed by armed guards. The police added that the death toll may rise because some people are still missing. Some of the victims were burned beyond recognition when one of the car bombs exploded next to a minibus, police said.

Al-Shabab, which is fighting to overthrow Somalia’s government, claimed responsibility for the attack. The armed group was forced out of the capital and other major urban areas by Somali and African Union multinational forces in 2011, but continues to carry out deadly bombings and attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere.